girl’s name
Maya in Chinese
玛雅
mǎ yǎ · traditional 瑪雅
Maya is usually written 玛雅 in Chinese, pronounced mǎ yǎ. It is a transliteration: the characters are chosen to sound like Maya, not for their meaning.
Character by character
| Character | Pinyin | Tone | Meaning | Traditional |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 玛 | mǎ | third (dipping) tone | agate; cornelian | 瑪 |
| 雅 | yǎ | third (dipping) tone | elegant, graceful, refined | 雅 |
Readings and meanings come from the Unicode Han Database (Unihan). In a transliterated name, the meanings of the characters are not read as a sentence.
Questions about Maya in Chinese
How do you write Maya in Chinese?
Maya is usually written 玛雅 in Chinese, pronounced mǎ yǎ. It is a transliteration: the characters are chosen to sound like Maya, not for their meaning.
How do you pronounce 玛雅?
玛雅 is pronounced mǎ yǎ: mǎ in the third (dipping) tone and yǎ in the third (dipping) tone.
How do you write Maya in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, it is written 瑪雅.
Is 玛雅 a real Chinese name?
It is the usual way Chinese newspapers and books write the foreign name Maya, so Chinese readers will recognise it as a foreign name. If you would like a name that looks Chinese, our free generator also suggests names chosen for their meaning.
How do Chinese transliterations work? Read how we choose your Chinese name.